Windows 10: Controlled folder access is very strict!

So, I recently clean installed Fall Creators Update, then enabled WinX IP Fast ring to get back on build 17046.

When going through all of the settings in Settings, I finally got to Update and Security and then opened Windows Defender Security Center. In tooling around, I went to Virus & threat protection settings and saw that, by default, a setting called Controlled folder access is disabled. After reading up on it, I decide to give it a try, and enabled it.





First thing to note - every time I installed a browser (or, most any other application that saves its icon to the common desktop) I got a warning about it from the system. OK, no big deal, as I usually remove most of my application desktop icons anyway, so, that was a check in the win column for me. If I really wanted to allow the application to save its desktop icon, there is a method to allow exceptions on a per-application basis (all or nothing, unfortunately).

Then something really, really odd happened. I went to make a screenshot to use at another forum, using standard Snipping tool and trying to save it to my normal Pictures folder.

Defender blocked it. Seriously.





That is one strict setting. But I think that, overall, I like its operation.

YMMV - be sure to do some reading on this feature before just running willy nilly to Defender and enabling it *Cool

:)

 

Windows Defender Controlled Folder Access is blocking VLC media player

I posted somewhere on this post a very detail, step by step on how to cure the issue within Win 10.

 

Windows Defender Controlled Folder Access is blocking VLC media player

Do you have Version 1709? Check at Settings > System > About.

After choosing Virus & Threat Protection categorys, did you then choose Virus & Threat Protection Settings? It should be there. It's the only extra control Defender has to do something like that, in the latest version. But default setting is Off so it might
have been toggled on by a bloatware antivirus. Which do you have?

 

and this tutorial and subsequent posts are one place to start.

Change Windows Defender Controlled Folder Access Settings - Windows 10

 

Should have known (and searched) for that - thanks

 

One word of warning John, It just happened to me:
If you have folders on other hard disks in your system, like I do(see my system specs), and you hve them protected by controlled access, and did not turn them off, then do a clean install, you will have permission problems, and need to take permission of all the other disks, manually. I tried using the "Take Ownership" from Shawn, but it wasn't enough. I need to go down to many... many subfolders(example music) and add my Microsoft account to the permission list.
But this is only if you have no choice other than clean installing, because Windows will not boot, and you cannot repair the boot loader.

 

I read that in the tutorial, probably while you were posting this here.

Interestingly enough, since I user multiple HDDs myself, I was immediately reminded that I have had this issue occur numerous times before this feature was available in Defender. Sometimes a clean install had 0 issues with reassigning a folder on another drive as the default location for one of the football folders, and someone's it balls and I have to take ownership of said folder (which I usually just take ownership of the entire drive, instead).

This had been happening since back on the days of Windows 7, so obviously not directly related to this new Defender feature, but regardless, your warning is duly noted.

 

I have a post at the end of the thread somewhere, that explains more of what happened, but if you already of knowledge about this, you're way ahead of where I was. It sucked*chuckle

 

It was from 3 days ago, next to last post in tutorial thread.

But, yeah, using multiple drives is a great idea, until that very first time when something gives you a permission error and you try to fix it, and end up taking ownership of the entire drive.

Every clean install after that negates your old ownership as the SID changes, and though WinX will tell you the exact SID that had ownership of the item(s) in question, unless you make a custom install .ISO and force it yourself (if that can even be done), you'll end up with needing to take ownership again. And again. And yet again.

Fortunately, even on large capacity drives, it doesn't take too long for me, maybe ~20 for all drives (2x 1TB + 1x 1.5TB).